Growing Beautiful Roses

In order to grow beautiful roses start with the selection of the plant itself. The first rule is you get what you pay for. If the local hardware store has a dried up stick for sale you will not be successful. Start with a good plant.

The next step is choosing a suitable location for growing your roses. Roses need plenty of direct sunlight in rich soil that drains well. While you cannot create sunlight in a shady area, you can improve the condition of your soil. If it is densely compacted, and of poor quality, dig a large 2 to 3 foot hole two feet deep and discard that soil. Replace it with equal parts each of topsoil, composted cow manure and peat moss.

Assuming you either have good soil, or took the above steps to create it, on to the next step. Plant your rose bushes. Dig a hole one foot in diameter and one foot deep. Save the soil. Take a few trowels full of this soil and mix in a handfull of flower fertilizer and another of epsom salts. (The epsom salts helps in good root production.) Place this mixture in the bottom of the whole. Place the rose plant in the hole and fill the removed soil up half way to the top, taking care not to leave any air around the roots. Pack the soil tightly. Next loosely fill in the remaining soil. Create a well a few inches deep in a cicle at the base of the plant. Spinkle a mixture of fertilizer and epsom salts in this well, and water with 1 to 2 gallons of water depending on the amount of moisture in the soil at the time of planting.

To keep the rose plant growing and bluming, water whenever the soil is dry, but NEVER get water on the leaves. Wet leaves encourage growth of fungus. Refertilize once a month, and "deadhead" the flowers often.

Finally, to enjoy them next year, you must prepare them for winter if you live in a cold climate like the Midwest. At the end of the seasons cut each plant back to just a few inches in height, and mound dirt or leaves completely over the top to protect the roses from frost. In the spring, just unmound the dirt, refertilize and water, and watch your beautiful roses blume successfully season after season.


Source from:
PageWise, Inc.